1. 456 - Saint Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop.

2. 823 - Pope Paschal I crowns Lothair I as co - emperor of France.

3. 1058 - Bishop Giovanni "Minchus" is elected as anti - Pope Benedict X.

4. 1242 - Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice.

5. 1424 - Scottish King James I returns to Scotland after 18 years of detention at the English court.

6. 1566 - 200 Brussels nobles offer Margaret of Parma a petition.

7. 1585 - Clemens Crabbe Els becomes bishop of 's - Hertogenbosch.

8. 1603 - New English King James I (James VI of Scotland) departs Edinburgh for London.

9. 1609 - Daimyo of the Satsuma domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.

10. 1614 - The second parliament of King James I begins session.

11. 1621 - The Mayflower sails from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.

12. 1648 - Spanish troops and feudal barons strike down people's uprising in Naples.

13. 1722 - Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen is the first European to discover Easter Island.

14. 1739 - France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI sign a secret treaty.

15. 1751 - Adolf Frederick of Holstein - Gottorp crowns himself King of Sweden.

16. 1762 - The British take Grenada, West Indies, from the French.

17. 1764 - The British parliament passes the Sugar Tax on the American colonies.

18. 1768 - The first US chamber of commerce forms in NYC.

19. 1792 - George Washington exercises the first presidential veto.

20. 1804 - The High Possil meteorite, the first recorded meteorite in Scotland, falls in Possil.

21. 1806 - Isaac Quintard patents apple cider.

22. 1812 - The British storm the Badajoz fortress in Extremadura, Spain.

23. 1814 - The Netherlands Bank issues its first banknotes.

24. 1815 - Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies has its first violent eruption.

25. 1818 - The Battle of Maipú: Chile's independence movement wins a decisive victory over Spain.

26. 1843 - The Charter of Hong Kong is signed, declaring Hong Kong a British colony.

27. 1847 - Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, opens in Birkenhead, England.

28. 1861 - The Federals abandon Ft Quitman, Texas.

29. 1865 - The Battle at Amelia Springs, Jetersville, Virginia takes place.

30. 1879 - Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.

31. 1882 - Song Jiaoren, a revolutionary in the Republic of China period, is born.

32. 1887 - Anne Sullivan teaches "water" to six - year - old Helen Keller.

33. 1893 - Cleveland passes the Park Act.

34. 1894 - 11 strikers are killed in a riot at Connellsville, Pennsylvania.

35. 1895 - Oscar Wilde loses a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.

36. 1897 - The Greco - Turkish War is declared.

37. 1900 - An attempted assassination of Edward, Prince of Wales, in Brussels fails.

38. 1901 - Under threats from the Ottoman Turkish government, Bulgaria arrests the leaders of the Macedonian Committee.

39. 1902 - The Ibrox disaster occurs in Glasgow, Scotland.

40. 1905 - James Barrie's "Alice - Sit - by - the - Fire" premieres in London.

41. 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts, killing more than 100 people.

42. 1908 - British Prime Minister Henry Campbell - Bannerman resigns.

43. 1911 - The MCC tour match vs Jamaica finishes in a tie.

44. 1915 - The French begin the Woëvre - offensive.

45. 1916 - French troops occupy Bois de Caillette.

46. 1919 - Éamon de Valera becomes president of Dáil Éireann.

47. 1922 - Kob - am in Albuquerque, NM, begins radio transmissions.

48. 1923 - The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company starts producing inflatable tires.

49. 1925 - The Belgian Workers' Party wins the parliamentary election.

50. 1929 - Lithuania signs the Litvinov - Pact.